Round 1 Group 10

[Idara]

“He talks a lot.” Idara thought of her foxed-eared companion as she left to join the rest of the bazaar. The group had decided to split up for the moment. Fox would go make the necessary preparations for the ritual, and the sorceress was supposed to find a way to practice the simpler spells entombed within. Simple enough. She’d copied the notes and diagrams as best she could, and had Kaeryl follow her around the shops to help acquire any needed reagents for the experiments.

As the pair came to a tent guarded on either side by boulders from some collapsed ruin, Idara could make out the rough wording of alchemist on a nearby sign. No doubt the small table had some stuff of interest to her plans. As she approached, she noticed a rather rotund human man working behind the counter. The sun was nigh set, but still he seemed to sweat straight through his stain smock. His face glistened with a natural grease, and the sorceress was afraid to approach for fear of the smell that might trail such a loathsome creature. Still, Kaeryl assured her that the labeled goods in stacked crates matched up for the required ingredients on her list, so Idara decided it was worth a checking out.

“Excuse me,” the sorceress said, with a slight apprehension to starting the conversation. “You wouldn’t happen to have any…thunder-burnt elm, would you?” The words almost made her choke, so much they seemed like parody.

“Do I look like a thunder-burnt elm trader,” he shot back, his tongue thick and guttural. He loomed over the table to stare down at her, his mustache seemingly dripping.

“…Yes. Yes you do.” The sorceress never took intimidation lightly. “When I imagine such a monger, your gilded apparition is the first thing to come to mind.”

***

Several shops later, she’d finally managed to collect all the goods she needed to. With ash from a recent fire, she drew a small circle on a nearby stone. Kaeryl was leered nearby, often looking over her shoulder. She’d yet to voice any true concern over the arcane, but her looks betrayed her true intention. Perhaps if I sing it instead…

The branch placed in the center of the circle, and several cloud berries flanking it, Idara began a simple muttering chant to try and materialize the immaterial. She could feel the winds kick up around her. Her face felt flush with fresh blood, and she had to close her eyes to stop the world from spinning. No doubt whatever magic she was playing with was working, because soon the ashen shape took form into a loose, evanescent dome. As it vanished it left a small red toad in its place. The creature was bloated, and its limbs all seemed twisted into knots. It tried to croak, but the animal’s noise began to form into the common tongue. It was trying to speak.

”Kill me…” Its whisper matched the dying wind. [i]”K…kill…me.”[i] As quickly as it appeared, it vanished. Not in wisps or tethers of the ethereal, but in a small crimson cloud as it popped into a pool of blood. The stone was coated in it, and Idara found herself wiping a bit of her glasses to try and see the scene she wrought. Kaeryl behind her let out a small shriek at the ordeal, causing Idara to turn.

“Fox doesn’t need to know about this. I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She stood up, and looked up into the elf’s eyes. “But just in case, maybe you should go see if you know anyways with a spare wagon.”